RALPH BANWARIE
In a twisted series of events that unfolded in the Sangre Grande area last weekend, a 62-year-old retired nurse was killed after returning home from the wake of an 11-month old baby, who died from blunt force trauma to the abdomen.
An autopsy on Monday revealed that Savitri Juteram died from acute asphyxiation after a towel was stuffed in her mouth by someone who broke into her Jacob Coat, Ojoe Road, Sangre Grande home, on Sunday.
An attorney-at-law, who practises at Sangre Grande Magistrates’ Court, said he was shocked upon learning of news of Juteram’s murder. He said the woman had reported that she had a case pending against a man, charged with harassing and stalking her. The case was scheduled to come up for hearing on Monday.
Police investigators said Juteram was attacked by someone she knew as she had no marks of violence. Police believe the woman fought with her attacker in a bid to escape but was eventually subdued.
Police, responding to a report of robbery, found Juteram, who lived alone, unconscious and her house ransacked at around 12.15 am.
The mother of five was described as a hard working, kind and respectable woman who cared for her children.
Her son, Nishen Juteram, said his mother graduated in England as a nurse and returned to work in Trinidad. At her retirement and commitment to duties, she received contract employment at EWMSC, Mt Hope, as a nurse.
He said he had spoken to her a few hours before her death.
Other relatives of Juteram said she returned to the workforce after retiring to keep active. They believe her attacker struck after she left the North Oropouche home of Ramesh Ramnath, a police officer, whose son, Mikyle, died at a daycare on Friday.
At the Forensic Science Centre, St James on Monday, Nishen said his mother’s killers will be brought to justice. He said his mother knew the Ramnath family and went to lend support to them.
On her way back, the grandmother of seven dropped off one of her cousin’s at Sangre Grande before heading home.
She was later found gagged and tied and was pronounced dead on arrival at the Sangre Grande District Medical Hospital, the same hospital where she had been employed before retiring two years ago.
Ramnath, who was also at Forensic Science Centre on Monday, after doctors at Eric Williams Medical Science’s Complex discovered what appeared to be bleeding in the abdominal cavity during the child’s autopsy, said he dropped off his child at a day care not too far from his home on Friday.
According to an autopsy report, the child died from blunt force trauma to the abdomen. However, it is still undetermined whether the injury was sustained maliciously or accidentally.
Ramnath said around midday he was telephoned and told that his child was not breathing and that he should get to the Sangre Grande Hospital. By the time he arrived, his first-born child, who would have been one year old on November 2, had already died.
“Parents out there need to be mindful we need to look at the signs. If I looked back at the past there was probably signs that he was trying to tell us and we probably didn’t take note. Right now I am just studying if I had paid more attention then I would not have been here standing here today saying this,” Ramnath said.
“The officers not sure what happened, the baby sitter not sure, right now we just hoping for answers.
“I wouldn’t say it was negligence because I don’t have any knowledge and she didn’t share info and I don’t want to believe that.
“I wish I could have kept him in my arms and never gave him anywhere else. He was a healthy baby and never even needed to go to doctor or anything. Every check up they kept on saying he was a healthy bouncing baby boy.”
To daycare owners, Ramnath said: “Be careful and be aware. Pay attention and take heed of everything. If I could erase time and go back I would have been an even better father, I am no longer a father now.”